Wings of Silver
by Dewdropzz
Summary: At the risk of sounding cheesy, I tell her what skating means to me, personally. "For me it's about freedom. Freedom to do whatever I want with nothing and no one holding me back. Freedom to be myself, never caring how I look, or what anyone else thinks of me. It's about feeling beautiful and strong and carefree, and letting go of everything but myself and the ice for a while."
1. Chapter 1

**I got the idea to write this story on my way home from teaching kids skating today. :D We know from the movie that Elsa's a good skater, so why couldn't she be an amazing figure skater? In this story Elsa teaches Anna what it really takes to be a skater. This is just the first chapter, which I'll probably end up editing later as I wrote it fairly quickly. =) I'm planning for this to be three to four chapters long. For now, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Reviews would be highly appreciated, so I know whether or not I should keep writing.**

**Thanks for reading! :-D**

**~Dew**

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><p>Ever since I was a little girl, I've always loved the morning. When the sun comes up over the mountains, and the sky is painted in candy pinks and yellows that fade into periwinkle blue, and the whole world seems so serene and peaceful for a single moment before the day begins. When everything's quiet and there's a still over the land, and it feels like everyone on earth must still be sleeping, and only you and the birds and the sky are awake... And if you're anything like me, you know that the most beautiful of all mornings are the mornings with <em>snow.<em>

Yes, it's wintertime in Arendelle, and the first snow of the season has covered the kingdom in a bright blanket of white. It's been snowing non-stop for about a week now, and (since it's perfectly natural for this time of year, and for once I know I'm not the one who caused it.) I've been enjoying the weather like Olaf enjoys the sunshine. Every morning I've been coming out here to skate on the frozen pond. Skating has always been a favourite pastime of mine. It's fun, it's a great way to get exercise, and it's the perfect stress reliever. (as I've been learning lately that there are a lot of pressures involved in ruling a kingdom.)

I lace up my skates at the side of the pond, and take to the ice. The ice feels like glass underneath my silver blades; It's amazing how the pond has frozen so evenly.

You can figure skate out here today, and that's just what I intend to do. I do a couple of laps forward, and then flip myself to backwards. Pulling into the centre of the ice, doing crosscuts in a circle, I spiral into a one-footed spin. I bend my free leg up behind me, letting my head lay back, and allowing my arms to come up over my head. I feel like a ballerina as I perform a beautiful layback spin.

Beautiful. I'm not ashamed to say that that's how I feel whenever I'm skating. Beautiful and strong, and as free as a snowflake falling down to the earth; as powerful as a snow storm that no human could repress.

I dig my pick into the ice behind me, and pull my body in tight as I lift off the ground, rotating a full turn in the air before landing on the opposite foot. To my surprise, I hear someone clapping behind me.

"Good morning!" says a cheerful, giggly voice. I turn around to see my sister, Anna, trying to hold back a laugh when she sees the startled look on my face and realizes she must have frightened me.

"Anna." I skate to the edge of the pond, stepping off the ice to greet my sister. "You're up early." I remark, almost teasingly. Anna is not usually a morning person... Hehe, let's just say she doesn't usually look so "ready to go" this early.

I quirk an eyebrow when I notice the way Anna is dressed. She's wearing thick woollen leggings under a knee-length dress, and instead of the cape she usually wears, she's dressed in a heavy but loose winter coat, that looks humorously big on her. (In fact, it looks like the exact same coat I think I've seen Kristoff wearing.) I smile when I realize she looks like she's wearing play clothes — The kind of thing we might have worn to go ice skating when we were kids.

"Are you going somewhere?" I inquire. "You look like you're dressed for an adventure."

Anna just laughs and fiddles with her braids. "Actually, I just came out to watch you. I know you've been coming out here to skate for the past few days, and I've been meaning to come see you, it's just that you get up so early, and I've been trying to make myself get up, but I just haven't until now, and... Is- is that okay?" I'm almost a foot taller than Anna with my skates on, and she looks up at me with hopeful blue eyes, as if she thinks I might actually say no.

"Of course it's okay!" I accept her small request gladly."Why don't you get your skates on? The ice is perfect for skating."

"Oh, no no no no." Anna chuckles. "I don't skate. But you! Wh-oa, you sure do! I just want to watch you for a while." She plops down on the bench at the side of the pond. "Keep skating!" she waves her hand at me, telling me to keep going. "Just pretend I'm not even here."

"Well, alright... If you're sure."

I get back out on the ice and start to stroke again. The more I stroke, the faster I go, until it seems my steel blades have lent wings of silver to my feet. Anna watches me in awe. Her wide eyes follow me as I whirl about the frozen pond. She gasps when I try a lutz, and claps for my spread eagles. When I attempt an axel, she almost falls off the bench, even though I barely land it.

After a few minutes, Anna asks me: "How do you do it?"

"I don't know." I tell her honestly. "I've just always been able to do it. I guess it's inborn."

Skating is easy for someone with snow powers. Gliding over ice comes naturally to me — I almost feel as if I'm part of the ice, and the ice is part of me. But how do I explain skating to someone like Anna, who doesn't have the power of ice within her?

"Why don't you come out and skate with me? I know you want to! You're dressed for a day at the rink. Come on!"

Anna looks from me, to the pond, to her snowboot-clad feet, and shrugs her shoulders slightly. "I'd have to go back and get my skates."

"No you don't!" A swirling tendril of icy magic flows from my hand, and shimmering silver blades appear on the bottom of each of Anna's winter boots. "Come on, sis! I know you know how to skate. All you need is more practice!" I take my sister by both hands, and dra- I mean _help_ her onto the ice.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Anna holds tightly onto my hands. I try to let go when I think she's got her balance, but the beginner skater grabs frantically onto my arm. "Oh n-no no, there will be no letting go here." she stammers nervously.

"Relax, Anna, you're not gonna fall!" I pry my sister's hands off my arm, only for her to latch onto the other. "You're too stiff." I giggle. "Loosen ip a bit. Staying stiff like that is only going to _make you_ fall."

"Alright." Anna loosens up, if only the slightest bit. After what feels like an eternity, she finally realizes she's not going to fall. Now, don't get me wrong; Anna's the single bravest person I know. But it takes every ounce of her courage for her to start moving her feet, and take a few baby steps forward.

"There you go!" I encourage her. "See, you know how to do this; it just takes you a minute to get going. The more often you skate, the more naturally it comes."

Anna grins widely. "Now, how do I go faster?"

I should have known my sister would want to go fast right away. Anna's all about going fast. If she's going to skate, she's not gonna be happy with going slow and steady like she's on some leisure stroll; Nope, she wants to tear up the ice.

"You just bend your knees and push with your knees and ankles." I instruct her carefully. "Like this." I bring my feet together in the shape of a letter T, and push off on one foot, pointing my toe out behind me. "You try."

Anna puts her feet in a broken letter V, and, stiffer than ever, tries to copy me, flinging her free leg out to the side and waving her arms in the air like a wild turkey. She slips off the back of her blade, and I catch her under the arms.

"Are you okay?" I ask her, trying to hold back my laughter.

"Absolutely." she smiles weakly, looking up at me, my image probably upside down.

"You have to keep your feet closer together, and take smaller steps, see? Maybe you should avoid going fast for now, sis. Skating's not just about going fast anyway."

"Okay, then what is it about?" Anna looks at me expectantly, smiling, believing I'm the prime authority on all things figure skating. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I tell her what it means to me, personally.

"For me it's about freedom. Freedom to do whatever I want with nothing and no one holding me back. Freedom to be myself, never caring how I look, or what anyone else thinks of me. It's about feeling beautiful and strong and carefree, and letting go of everything but myself and the ice for a while."

"That sounds amazing." my sister breathes. "I- I wish I could be like that. When everyone watches you skate, they just get this _feeling_, you know? They all just want to watch you skate — Me, and Kristoff and Olaf and everyone. Everyone's so impressed with you! I... I wish I could skate like that."

"You will." I take my sister's hands in mine, and give them an assuring squeeze.

We stay out and skate for another hour, until the pale sun is resting on the peak of the North Mountain. Anna shuffles along, and I skate around her, giving her tips here and there and encouraging her to keep going. Noticing the position of the sun in the sky, Anna recalls she is supposed to go ice fishing with Kristoff and Sven today, and I remember I have a speech to give at the grand opening of Arendelle's new orphanage.

I turn Anna's skates back into boots, and change out of my own skates on the bench by the pond. We've had so much fun, the two of us reluctantly say goodbye to the ice.

"We have to do this again sometime." Anna beams, before we each go our separate ways.

"Yes, of course we will." I smile back.

There's a look on Anna's face that I can't quite read. She turns to face the ice again, as if she's longing for one last lap. I ask her what she's thinking, and her answer comes as a surprise to me.

"Elsa, I was wondering if you might be willing to, you know, teach me some figure skating...?"

"Teach you?" I echo. "You know I've never had lessons myself... But I guess I could teach you a few basic things."

"Great!" Anna hugs me, before starting in the opposite direction of the castle.

"Tomorrow then? Same time, same place?"

She considers this for a moment, and then comes up with a proposal. "How about same place, an hour later? Or even two hours. It'd probably be easier for me to stand on skates if I wasn't half asleep."

I laugh. I almost forgot that Anna has made a huge sacrifice to see me skate this morning: Anna _never_ gets up this early. "Deal."

As I sit in a chair for what seems like hours as the Royal Hair Stylist does my hair for my speech, I can't stop thinking about what it'll be like to coach my little sister in skating... I've never had any kind of formal teaching myself. But Anna seemed so grateful I agreed to give her lessons... And anyway, how hard can it possibly be? I'll teach her everything that I know, and whatever happens, I'm sure that both of us are gonna give it our best shot.


	2. Chapter 2

I put on my skates at the side of the pond, as the gentle flurries fall from silver clouds and land in my braided hair. No matter how many times I come out here, I can never get over how beautiful Arendelle looks on a snowy winter morning. The sky isn't pink or yellow right now, as the sun's already been up for hours. But the pale sun in the frosty blue sky looks amazing — the kind of thing you want to point to, and say "hey, look at that!" and share with someone.

But it seems even at 10:30 a.m. the world's still sleeping... The world including my sister apparently, as Anna is nowhere to be found.

"Where is that girl?" I wonder aloud. "We agreed to meetat 10:30. I hope she didn't forget."

I _really_ hope Anna didn't forget. I've been looking forward to this since yesterday; looking forward to, and dreading it. I tell myself I'm over thinking this... I'm always over thinking things. It's what I do.  
>But I want to be the best coach I can possibly be for my sister. I want to give her all the best advice — I even stayed up late last night trying to think of things to teach her. And here I am dressed and ready, and Anna's presumably still inside. Typical.<p>

I finish tying my skates and step onto the frozen pond. The ice is a bit bumpier today, probably due to Anna and I carving it up yesterday. I try to avoid the bumps and divots as I stroke around the perimeter of the rink. It's so cold this morning, but I love it. The cold doesn't bother me; it invigorates me. It gives me energy to get down into the ice, and push up into the air, spreading my arms in legs in the shape of a one-point star. To me, a split jump is the perfect way to express happiness on ice. ...Yes, that's something I can tell Anna. Not that I'd ever try to teach someone a split jump right away. I'll start with a bunny hop. It's not really a jump, but it's the best way to start getting used to throwing yourself into the air. At least I think it is. I've never really thought about it before.

I turn backwards, grabbing my skate and pulling it above my head behind me. I lay back and feel the soft snowflakes as they fall on my face. I close my eyes, and then...

"BOO!"

"Whoa!" I let go of my blade and stumble forward, regaining my balance to see Anna standing at the side of the pond, slapping the bench and laughing like that was the funniest thing ever.

"That was mean!" I glare at my sister. "Not to mention dangerous!"

"I just wanted to surprise you!" She puts up her hands in playful defence. "I was going to say 'good morning', but I thought 'boo' was a better way to convey the surprise factor, y'know?"

I roll my eyes, and shake my head. Anna may be an adult legally, but she's still as much of a little sister as she was when we were kids.

"Are you ready for your lesson now?"

Anna's brought her own skates today. I wait for her to lace them up, and we step onto the ice together.  
>Anna's very stiff again, and I tell her to loosen up.<p>

"Remember, fear will get you nowhere in figure skating. If you're worried you're going to do something wrong, chances are you're going to do something wrong because you're worried." I tell her my life's philosophy. Since the Great Thaw, this is the rule I've been living by. I've learned it applies to every area of life, ice skating included. "And being stiff isn't going to save you from falling! In fact if you're stiff when you fall, you actually have more of a chance of getting hurt."

"Is that so." Anna nods, and I think she's taking it all in. "Okie doke."

I give her my hands and skate backwards, dragging her along. After a minute, she starts to move her feet, and when I let go she keeps going, actually skating much better than yesterday.

"That's it!" I cheer her on. "Just take one step at a time. Keep your feet in close for now."

She brings her feet in closer, and shifts her bodyweight from her right side, to her left. She looks kind of like she's waddling, but it's propelling her forward, so hey, I guess it's a start.

Anna stops moving her feet all of the sudden. She's built up some speed, and she lets herself glide a few yards before turning her feet to the side in a two foot stop. "What can I do to improve my form?" she blurts suddenly. "When you skate, it looks so easy. You're so graceful, like you really belong on the ice. When I skate, I'm all over the place. Do you know of any way I can fix that?"

"Not really..." Anna's not the kind of skater yet that I can tell her to add arm movements, or extend her free leg more, or do anything that I might do to make myself appear more graceful. What kind of advice can I give to a beginner skater to make her look beautiful?

"Well for starters, try not to slump over when you skate. Try to keep your shoulders back."

Anna replies with a half-hearted pout. "Do I really have to have princess posture all the time? It's not like anyone's watching us." She looks around, as if just to make sure that statement was true. "They're not, are they?"

"No!" I laugh out loud. "I mean if you skate slumped your centre of balance will be thrown off. All the energy you're exerting is being pushed down into the ice. You need to stand up straight, with your whole body weight over your skates. That will help you to move forward. And don't look down, 'cause if you look down, where are you going to go?"

"Down?" my sister guesses.

"Right!"

"And you still need to push more. Remember what I showed you yesterday? I guess you don't have to start in a T-push off... I mean, of course it looks nicer than starting with your feet wide apart, but it doesn't really matter when you're first starting out. Just remember to bend your ankles, and your knees."

Anna hangs on my every word. She heeds every piece of advice I give her, and now she's standing up straight like one of the palace guards, with her shoulders pressed and her neck stretched out... Her arms are flopping around like wet noodles, because I told her that she was still too stiff, and she's bending her knees and pushing alright — pushing with her toe pick, kicking ice up behind her, creating a miniature blizzard everywhere she goes.

I stand back and watch my skater as she tries to complete a lap around the rink. And I'm thinking... What the heck? Is that really what I coached her to do? Yes it is. It's _exactly_ what I coached her to do. Apparently I've over-thought again... I tried so hard to be the perfect coach, but it really is true: If you're nervous you're gonna do something wrong, you're gonna do something wrong just because you're so focused on not falling that it's impossible to succeed.

I shake my head, and cover my eyes with my hands. Anna turns to look at me at that exact moment, and when she sees me it looks like her knees give out, and she falls, slapping her hands on the ice, landing with her legs tucked beneath her.

"Anna!" I rush to my little sister's side. I offer her my hand, and she winces when I help her up. "Are you hurt?" I ask her urgently.

"Nah – Just my hands." But Anna's face wears a pained expression. I don't believe she's not injured, and I guide her to the bench at the side of the pond.

"What was the face for back there?" she asks slowly, as I sit her down on the bench.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh come on, Elsa, I saw you! Am I really that bad? I did everything you told me-"

"No!" I cut her sentence short. "No, it's not your fault. It's mine. You were a good skater before; it was me who messed you up. I shouldn't have given you all those stupid instructions... Just forget everything I said, okay? I'm- I'm a terrible coach."

"No, no," Anna tries to reassure me with a smile that's sickeningly forced as she rubs her stinging, ice-burnt hands. "I guess I'm just not cut out for figure skating."

"Hey Anna! Elsa!" Anna and I both turn to see a little snowman come bouncing over the hill. "I've been looking all over for you guys! Wow, this place sure looks different in the winter. It's beautiful. Oh!" Olaf gasps when he notices Anna's hands. "Your hands are the colour of roses. Or maybe strawberries. Yeah, they look like strawberries for sure. What happened?"

"Anna fell." I tell the snowman.

"I've fallen just standing still before. Like this one time, I was standing on this picnic blanket, and I slipped. I'm pretty slippery though. Picnic blankety surfaces are especially hard for me." He giggles. "Why did you fall though?"

"We were skating." explains Anna. "Well, trying to."

"Anna, maybe you should get someone to bandage those hands for you." I suggest.

"That would probably be best." declares Olaf. "I bet they hurt to touch things, huh?"

"I should've worn gloves, stupid me." Anna simpers.

"It's okay." I try to console her. "You should go back to the castle now. Olaf and I will go with you."

"No. No, that's okay." Anna falters. "You guys stay here and skate. I'll be fine, I... I was starting to get cold anyway." She flops heavily onto the bench and looks down at her skates. "Could you, uh...?"

"Of course." I kneel down and start untying Anna's skates for her. I start with the right skate, and Olaf, being the helpful little guy he is, starts to untie the left, using his stubby stick fingers.

"Thanks." Anna sniffs when Olaf and I are done. She eases her skates off her feet, and gingerly pulls her boots on up to her knees. "I'll see you guys later." she waves, and I catch her wince again before she turns around.

Anna walks away, leaving Olaf and I alone at the side of the rink. The white sun has gone behind a cloud, and the gentle flurries have gotten bigger, and have started to blow in a howling wind. Olaf looks at me, but wisely, doesn't ask.

"She's not a very good skater, is she?" After a moment, the little snowman breaks the silence.

"She was fine before I had to go and mess her all up. I think I ruined her Olaf, before she even got started."

"Did you tell her to try to look like a reindeer? That's what she looked like from up on the hill, kinda like Sven trying to skate."

"You saw us?" I question. "Oh, I was under the impression that..."

"I watched you guys from the hill for a long time. I thought you were practicing some secret dance routine or something, and I didn't want to disturb you. I couldn't see you were wearing skates from up there, hehe." Olaf plops down on his butt at the edge of the frozen pond, his stumpy legs going up in the air before settling in the snow on either side of him. He notices his reflection in the mirror-like surface of the ice, and pokes at it curiously with his wooden stick fingers."Isn't the ice wonderful?"

I look over my shoulder at Anna's footprints in the snow. Olaf reaches up and takes my hand, urging me to sit down beside him. I sigh, and kneel down next to Olaf, running my own hand over the frozen water. A thin layer of snow has settled on its surface, and I gently blow the icy crystals off my hand, allowing them to be caught on the wind like a shower of pixie dust.

"I feel so bad for Anna." I say to Olaf as we watch it fly away. "I think I really hurt her feelings back there. It wasn't her skating I was cringing at, it was my coaching! I wanted Anna to be my own little project. I tried so hard to give her the best advice I could. She said she wanted to learn to skate like me, but even I don't know how I do it... It's always felt so natural to me, I don't even think about it."

"Wow, you really do put too much thought into everything, don't you?" Olaf chuckles, while absent-mindedly making a circle in the snow with his finger. "You said yourself that you don't think about skating; you just feel it. Maybe you should tell Anna to try feeling it too."

"Feeling what?" I ask, wondering if maybe Olaf is onto something.

"Whatever you feel when you're skating. I mean, you love it, right? And it shows. Everyone is so impressed with your skating, but you're not trying to impress them, are you?"

I think about what Olaf is saying. Whether the effervescent talking snowman knows it or not, he has just made a _very_ good point. I don't skate because I want people to admire me, to make my sister proud of me, or because my friends like to watch me skate. I skate because I want to.

"You know what, Olaf? I think that's just what I'll do." I doop the end of his carrot nose, and go out for one last spin around the rink. I flip myself backward, and leap up into a split jump. Tomorrow for Anna's skating lesson, I'll know exactly what to tell her. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey everybody who's reading this! First of all, thank you so much for reading; I hope you're enjoying my story so far. :) **

**Sorry guys, but this isn't a chapter. This is just me letting everyone know that this story won't be updated until after the holidays. I promise I'll continue in the new year. =D**

**Until then, Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate, and I hope you all have an amazing holiday season! :D**

**~Dew**


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